Casey and April: Cleaning Up the Mess
by eno1988
Summary: Casey returns to New York a year after leaving April and the turtles behind. Part 3
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

April stood there in a stupor and her eyes wide as golf balls. Her heart was pounding so hard, she just knew at any second it would stop and fall out of her butt. What was he doing there? Why hadn't anyone called to warn her? Why was she still staring making it perfectly obvious that his presence affected her?

"Hey." Casey said barely above a whisper.

April stared at him for another thirty seconds, "Hey." She replied meekly before excusing herself to the bathroom in the lair.

She closed the door and plopped down on the toilet. Deep breathes weren't helping, she felt more like hyperventilating. Why was he back? He had been gone a year without so much as a phone call or a post card. April had spent months piecing herself back together after he up and disappeared. They had finally come together just for him to run off when he thought something better had come along.

Her shaky hands ran through her auburn hair and she stared at the dingy bathroom that was obviously cleaned by a bunch of guys. All she wanted to do was disappear out of the bathroom without anyone noticing. She focused on the wall trying to compose herself. The more she looked at the wall the more she needed to cry. It wasn't until she saw him that she realized how much she still wanted him to come home, but she needed to hate him more. April wanted to storm out of the bathroom and scream and cry and throw a fit about how much she hated him. She wanted to do all those things, but she also wanted to run into his arms and kiss him until her lips went numb.

A knock at the bathroom door jolted her back to reality, "Go away." She practically growled, but the knob turned anyway. April quickly wiped away the tears that were threatening to spill over and saw Michelangelo closing the door behind him, "I need a minute, Mikey."

"I'm sorry, Angel Cakes… He's only been here about fifteen minutes and we were so shocked we forgot you were on your way from work. I swear I wouldn't let you walk in with him here on purpose." He tried to explain. April believed Mikey. He would never hurt her for anything, "Do you want me to ask him to leave?"

April shook her head, "No, Mikey. I don't want that. I don't know what I want. I'm so mad at him and-" She buried her face in her hands and the sobs started to flow from her. Mikey put her hand on her back to comfort her, "And I'm still in love with him."

Mikey sighed and scooped April up in a hug, "I know, Angel Cakes. You've been playing tough, but I knew you weren't over him."

She laid her head on his plastron as she tried to calm her crying, "What do I do?"

"I don't think you have to figure that out right this second. Right now I need to know if you're staying for dinner or if you need me to take you home and cook there." He offered sweetly.

A smile formed on April's sad face, "I don't deserve you, Mikey."

"You deserve whatever you want." He kissed the top of her head.

"You're so good to me." She stood up straight and wiped her face, "I'm going to get through dinner and go home with my head held high. How do I look?"

"Awesomely hot." He answered with a big Mikey grin.

April laughed, "Thank you. Let's do this thing."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Mikey finished putting food on everyone's plate and set the extra in the middle of the table. Raph made sure to quickly sit next to April while Mikey occupied her other side. Casey sat across between Leo and Donnie while Master Splinter was at the head of the table.

"Does everyone have what they need?" Mikey asked before he began eating.

"Yes, Michelangelo, please eat son." Splinter pushed.

"How was everyone's day?" Leo began the conversation before an awkward silence had a chance to set in.

Raph snorted sarcastically, "C'mon, Leo." Leo shot a look at Raph and then looked to April as if to remind him this was for her benefit, "It was pretty good. Just did the usual. How about you, Ape?"

"Um, it was good, I guess. It was just sniffing around the news room mostly." April replied and then taking a big bite of food as the silence inevitably ensued.

Splinter could feel the tension at the table between all his children, April and Casey included. He knew more than they thought he did. He could see the pain on April's face. He could see the need in Casey's. And he could see the protectiveness in the turtles over their two friend's feelings.

"So, Casey," Splinter began, "Tell us about what you've been up to the past year."

Casey chewed his food and tucked his long hair behind his ears. That's always what he did when he was nervous, "Um, well, it didn't really work out the way I planned. After I was signed, my bad knee took a hit and it just went downhill after that, so I guess I'm back to square one."

April kept her eyes down on her plate as she ate.

"I'm sorry to hear of your misfortune, Casey, but I am glad to see you back with your family." Splinter said kindly.

Casey half smiled and nodded in return. He would never admit that it choked him up when Splinter said things like that.

After dinner, April helped Mikey clean up and said her good nights quickly and went home. Casey hung around the lair like a lost puppy. Everyone could sense where he wanted to go, but he knew it wasn't a good idea yet.

"Yo, Case." Raph said standing up from the pizza box couch.

"What's up, Kemosabi?"

He nodded towards the gym, "Can you spot me?"

Casey smiled and followed Raph into the gym. Everyone knew Raph didn't need a spot. Casey took his place behind the bench and Raph laid down and began pumping. It took a few minutes for either of them to start talking. Raph always had to build up to things like this because even though April was hurting, Raph and Casey were the best of friends and he got left in Casey's highway dust when he left town just like April.

"So, what made you decide to come back after all these months?" Raph asked placing the bar back in its place to take his breather.

Casey shrugged his large, broad shoulders, "It's home, man. If I'm not playing hockey there's no reason for me to be anywhere else."

Raph considered his answer, "So, hockey is what it takes to keep ya around. Not family, friendship, or your amazing girl that's way outta your league. Got it." He growled and began pushing the bar up and down again trying to work out the anger before it got too out of hand.

Casey sighed heavily as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew there was no way to explain this because Casey knew deep down how stupid he had been to leave in the first place, "I get what you're saying, Raph. I guess a part of me was trying to relive something that left me a long time ago. Making you guys feel unimportant was never what I meant to do. Everything just got so clouded when I thought I was getting a do-over."

"You ditched all of us. We brought you into our home and made you part of the family. Splinter thinks of you as a son. We were all runnin' buddies. And April, God, April. She waited for you to make a move. Then you started dating Sheila. Then you and April finally get your shit together just long enough for her to be heartbroken after you left. She has been so sad, man. Those first couple of months damn near ruined her. And I don't blame her for feeling the way she did because if someone as amazing like April can't keep a guy like _you_ around, what hope does she have with anybody else." Raph hoped it hurt Casey just as much as it hurt Raph to say it, but it felt good to get it off his chest.

The tall vigilante stood there perfectly wounded. He looked at his feet and back at Raph, "I love her so much." He whispered, "I knew if I stayed I would fuck it up anyway so I ran thinking I had a good excuse…" Casey fell to a workout bench because suddenly his legs weren't supporting him, "I got hurt three months after I left. That means for the last nine months I haven't been playing hockey. That's how much of a chicken shit I am. It took me nine fucking months to come back here to face everyone, to face her. I never called her because I didn't think she'd talk to me and now I want to kill myself for not even trying. And it just makes me look like I didn't care at all, when in reality it's all I've thought about. I can face in punk ass piece of shit in the dark in the scariest city in the world, but I couldn't face her. Loving her is the best thing I'll probably ever do and I can't even do that right."

Raph wiped his brow and sat next to Casey, "I'm only gonna tell you this because I know it's what she wants. I wouldn't do this otherwise because you don't deserve it. This is for her."

"What are you talking about?"

The red banded turtle sighed, "A couple of weeks ago, I went to April's to hang out and watch movies and she ended up drinking. So we were talking about anything and everything and then she got really quiet while she was thinking. I feel like she forgot I was there since she was pretty drunk, but there were tears running down her face. And she said, 'I would give anything for Casey to walk through my door.' I told her that you were probably thinking about her, too and she shook her head and told me that she was nothing but a memory to you now."

Casey buried his face in his hand for a minute before looking back at Raph, "She said that?"

Raph nodded, "Yeah. I told you this because I know you're still what she wants. But I hope you're listening real hard when I say this, if you decide to act on what I just told you and she takes you back and you fuck her over again, I'm gonna take care of ya."


End file.
